Pages

Monday, December 17, 2012

SOUTH AFRICA FA CHIEF SUSPENDED INDEFINITELY FOR MATCH FIXING

South Africa was plunged into crisis on
Monday just a month before it hosts the African Nations Cup finals with
the suspension of its football association president and other top
officials following a report into match fixing involving the national
team.

South African Football Association president Kirsten
Nematandani, new chief executive Dennis Mumble and its top refereeing
officials have been suspended indefinitely as the organisation said it
planned to ask a judge to set up an independent inquiry.

The suspension follows the handing over last Friday by world
governing body FIFA to SAFA of a 500-page report investigating the
activities of convicted Singapore match fixer Wilson Raj Perumal and his
Football 4U organisation.

The report highlighted the involvement of the five South African officials, a press briefing in Johannesburg was told.FIFA has alleged that the results of pre-World Cup warm-up matches
against Thailand, Bulgaria, Colombia and Guatemala in the weeks leading
up the 2010 finals were fixed.

The suspended officials had engaged Perumal to organise opponents for
South Africa's national team as they prepared to host the World Cup,
and then also agreed to Perumal's suggestion he bring in and pay
referees from other African countries to handle the matches, SAFA said.

The referees then fixed the results of the games to benefit an Asian
betting syndicate, some of the matches filled with dubious penalty
decisions and poor offside calls.

Allegations of match fixing were first revealed in the South African
press in July last year but SAFA did not immediately act, only raising
the issue once FIFA had incorporated the country into a wider
investigation into Perumal.

SAFA said it would ask a retired judge to take charge of an urgent
commission of inquiry "so that the issue can be speedily resolved".The organisation's image has suffered in recent years from
in-fighting between football politicians and near bankruptcy, with an
independent audit firm brought in to run the body's finances.

SAFA was hoping a successful Nations Cup tournament, which starts on
January 19, would help turn around its fortunes and recently unveiled a
long-term development plan it is hoping to entice corporate sponsors to
back.